A White House team will travel to Singapore to prepare for a June 12 summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the White House said Saturday.
Coming after a surprise meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the move was the latest sign that the on-again, off-again Trump-Kim summit may yet go ahead as planned.
“The White House pre-advance team for Singapore will leave as scheduled in order to prepare should the summit take place,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
Trump pulled out of the summit on Thursday, citing Pyongyang’s “tremendous anger and open hostility” — only to reverse himself Friday after North Korea said it was willing to talk “at any time.”
In a tweet, Trump the summit was “likely” to happen as scheduled June 12.
“We’re talking to them now,” Trump said of the North Koreans. “They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it.”
Then on Saturday, Moon met with Kim on the north side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas “to ensure a successful US North Korea summit,” Seoul’s presidential Blue House said in a statement.
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